An Evaluation of Fishries Management Policies Available for Domestic Tuna Fishery in the Maldives

Abstract

"The main prospect for economic development of the Maldives lies in the possibility of exploitation of the economic potential of its marine resources. This is because like many island developing countries, the Maldives has a narrow resource base and its main natural resources consist of fisheries and a marine area conducive for international tourism. In the absence of proper management, fishery resource tends to be exploited as a common property resources with a tendency towards over-exploitation. In the absence of appropriate property rights, the exploitation of a common property such as the fisheries may lead to over exploitation (and possible extinction of a species) and externalities both contemporaneous and inter-generational. The paper aims to identify the various economic policy instruments that may be available and then uses a cubic model to select the best model suitable for the tuna industry in the Maldives. In the Maldivian context, price control is selected as the appropriate policy instrument, even through individual transferable catch quota is also a possibility in the long-run. Price control is based on levying a tax on catches and is oriented towards economic efficiency."